For years this newspaper has called for a united effort against violent crime in Rockford and Winnebago County. In the past, although frontline city cops and county deputies worked together on the streets, personality conflicts and turf battles among leaders have prevented the seamless effort needed to rid Rockford of its ranking as one of the most dangerous cities in America.

Two conflicting trends illustrate why the priority must be on violent crime. While overall crime in Rockford is down, from nearly 14,000 incidents in 1998 to just under 10,000 in 2012, violent crime is up, from nearly 1,500 incidents in 1998 to about 2,000 incidents in 2012.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-E. Moline, hammered home the urgent need for a united anti-crime front on May 28, the day they convened an anti-crime summit in the Stanley J. Roszkowski U.S. Courthouse in Rockford. Durbin and Bustos made it abundantly clear that all parts of the criminal justice system must work closely together to stop violence caused by drug trafficking and random shootings perpetrated by today's loosely organized, highly unpredictable and dangerously volatile street gangs.

This cooperation is now taking place, and all are agreed on the goal: Arrest the ringleaders and put them away for a long time. Send a loud message to thugs that "I wouldn't do that in these parts."

Supporting the task force's work are the Illinois State Police and Department of Corrections, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. attorney.

The task force's mission is to "Reduce violent crime through an intelligence based policing approach. It will prioritize and coordinate efforts based on continuous review of shared data, coordinated and collaborative investigations, enforcement, and prosecution, and focus multi-jurisdictional teams around the highest risk offenders, highest risk locations, and highest risk behaviors in Winnebago County."

Leader of the force will be Iasparro, a veteran no-nonsense crime fighter with decades of experience in both the Police Department and the Sheriff's Department. Winnebago County and the city of Rockford will assign two detectives each to the task force. Loves Park will assign one, as will the State Police.

They'll work with Bruscato's office and state and federal agencies as needed.

The task force has been working together informally since July and "already has some wins," Christiansen told us. The force will be made official in a news conference on Thursday.

Page 2 of 2 - This is really good news, and we applaud the effort, which we hope will assure residents that the law enforcement men and women they fund are all on the same page.

There are many ways we must "Transform Rockford" and the surrounding area into one of America's top 25 communities. Cutting violent crime is one of our top priorities. A safe community leads to a confident community. And that is transformational.